WRIGHTIAN ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES JAPAN (WAAJ)
TO LAUNCH WITH DAYLONG EVENT IN TOKYO

TOKYO—In time to mark the centenary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s first visit to Japan in 1905, the not-for-profit Wrightian Architectural Archives Japan (WAAJ) is being established to promote greater cultural awareness of the famed architect’s work and ongoing legacy in Japan. The WAAJ will launch with a day of special programs open to the public on September 24, 2005 at the Wright-designed Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan in Mejiro, Tokyo.

The day’s highlights include a panel discussion in Japanese with renowned architects Kisho Kurokawa, Hisao Kohyama and others, and the Japanese premiere of the acclaimed documentary Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan. There will also be a model-building contest for children, a modern koto concert featuring Curtis James Patterson, and an evening reception.

The WAAJ, one of the first such independent archives in Japan, aims to provide a one-stop destination where Wright scholars can make new discoveries and fans can acquire a comprehensive understanding of Wright’s philosophy and principles of organic architecture. It will endow, manage and grow an archives of Wright-related materials, as well as sponsoring ongoing exhibitions, seminars and community outreach programs. The group is working with Toshima Ward, location of the Wright-designed Miyonichikan, to site and build an archival home, as well as with The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale, AZ, overseers of Wright’s legacy.

During the six years he lived in Tokyo, from 1917-1922, Wright designed a handful of buildings and left a lasting influence on the nation’s architects. Many of the men who worked with him on the Imperial Hotel went on to define the course of Japanese architecture, notably his righthand man, Arata Endo, and Antonin Raymond, who led Japan’s modernist movement during his 43 years in the country. Among the other architects whose legacies will be protected and promoted by the WAAJ are Kameki Tsuchiura, Yoshiya Tanoue, Takehiko Okami, Taro Amano, Raku Endo, Eizo Sugawara and Muraji Shimomoto.

Japan is the only country outside of America in which Wright lived and worked, and his legacy here has been endangered by the loss of those with firsthand knowledge, and the casual destruction of historic documents and artifacts. The WAAJ is the result of a commitment by the group’s founding members, many of them architects themselves, to prevent a further erosion of Japan’s architectural heritage.

The September 24 event is being supported by AIA Japan, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Imperial Hotel, Japan Institute of Architects, Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan, Kokuyo, Mukogawa Women’s University, Toshima Ward, UIFA Japon, United Airlines, U.S. Embassy in Japan and Yodogawa Steel.